1.4 miles/712ft AS

I’ve been meaning to do this race again for 10 years, but something always comes up. It’s not ideal that it’s mid-week, an hour away and only 1.4 miles long, but that’s also it’s appeal! I’d taken the afternoon off work so I could visit my Dad as well, who lives within sight of the Cleveland Matterhorn, so this justified the excessive diesel use a bit.

Roseberry is ingrained in OAC folklore due to Richard Smith’s free-fall into some bracken, beautifully caught on video back in 2012. But we don’t want to revisit that again do we? OK, maybe a bit. But the year before, Dale Foster had had a storming run, finishing 2nd, and we had a presence there in 2013 too.

It really feels like a unique race. The views (if you catch your breath enough to look up) are stunning, the run up through the woods is gorgeous, and it really is lung-busting as no need to save anything for later on, as there isn’t a later on! But it’s all about that descent; how brave you can be, whether you take ‘the chute’ or stick to the tourist path, and how quickly you can recover and blast down the finishing lane.

Sara wasn’t racing, but we both jogged/walked the whole route to recce any tricky bits (spoiler, it’s all tricky), think it’s the only time I’ve done this immediately before a race! The locals were friendly and happy to share their thoughts.

The weather had been pretty benign until just before the start, when the heavens opened. This meant my decision was made as to whether to take the chute or not (the chute is as steep as you can get before it’s impossible, and you need to use your hands as well as feet going up and your back-side coming down! So I opted for the path both ways.

Being so short, junior runners can do this one, and as the race started I was overtaken by many of them which was a bit disconcerting. I’d love to write a detailed description of the ascent, but I genuinely can’t remember it. The lack of oxygen, looking at your shoes, keeping out of the way of the descending leaders all made it a blur. Touching the trig, I turned and started the steep grassy descent, opting for ‘Smithy Scree’ rather than the path. The rain had actually made the shale scree grippy and I overtook a few on the path. However the clay clogged up the studs and made the rest of the descent off the cone treacherous.

I felt I was overtaking more than I was being overtaken (one super fast descender on the steps being the exception) These guys obviously knew the terrain well, so I followed round the willow fences that had been constructed to minimise erosion in the woods rather than straight down the steps.

Hitting the main lane the steepness finally relented and I was able to overtake 3 of the guys who were braver on the steep bits.

It’s such a blast this race, and I would recommend it to anyone who has the time to get up there. Maybe we organise a club-only race up there one weekend?

We were treated to a most beautiful rainbow and golden sunlight as we watched the rest of the field come in. Feeling grateful to be able to enjoy this wonderful sport.

I finished in 20th position in 16.10 (slower than 2013 but quicker than 2012, so I’ll take that!)

The race was won by Lee Kemp of local club Esk Valley Fell Club (who organise the fell series up on the North York Moors)

First lady was junior Poppie Phillipson in an incredible 15.01 – under 14 category!

Full results here: https://eskvalleyfellclub.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Roseberry-Topping-28-Aug-2024.pdf